Safety deep well pump assembly



Sept. 20, 1932. J. v. Box

SAFETY DEEP WELL PIUMP ASSEMBLY 2 sheets-sheet 1 Filed Oct. l5, 1928 .llllllllmn l ffy VEN Tofz .7o/m' V Bw:

Sept. 20., 1932 V, BOX 1,878,372

SAFETY DEEP WELL PUMP ASSEMBLY Filed Oct. l5, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented sept. 20,1932

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Y JOHN V. BOX, OF LOIS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, .ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO CHARLES A.

BAILEY, OF TORRENCE. CALIFORNIA SAFETY DEEP WELL PUMP ASSEMBLY Application mea october 15, 192s. serial misdaan.

This invention relates to the art of lowering sucker rods into and pulling them out of pump tubing in deep wells.

Many of such wells are being sunk to six 5 thousand feet and more, and the pumps for pumping the oil from great depths are operated by sucker rods' connected to polish rods that work through stuffing boxes connected to the tops of the pump tubing throu h le which the oil is pumped; and in case t e sucker rodhas to be pulled in order to get at the sucker or the standing valve, it is necessary to remove the s tuiing box and to pull out the sucker rod, and to disjoint it as the I pulling proceeds, and to stand the discon-A nected lengths of the sucker rod in the derrick.

This operation requires the use of elevators 'to take hold of the rod and pull it up, and also the use of slips to hold the rodA from falling back into the pump tubing when the lengths are being unscrewed at the top and deposited in the derrick.

rlhe weight of the sucker vrod suspended ful means are required to handle the same;

and great loss sometimes occurs from break-V age of the support at either the up or down movement of the sucker rod, and also from dropping the rod at the .times of changing from support by the slips to support by the elevators, and vice versa.

An object of this invention is to provide means which can be applied to and removed from the top of the pump tubing while the sucker rod is suspended in the tubing; andwhich means, when so applied, will aiord a suiiiciently strong support for the great length of sucker rod below, and which will hold the sucker rod supporting slips, and will allow such slips to be withdrawn upward by the joints of the sucker rod sufiiciently to allow such joints to pass the slips; and which also will be susceptible of allowing the sucker-rod valve cage to pass un satisfactorily without any likelihood of breaking the equipment at thenal withdrawal of the sucker valve cage from the tubing. r

Another object of the invention is to improve the means for applying the slips to the in the pump tubing is very great, and powersucker rod for its support and for releasing the slips from their support and also to allow the sucker rod to run up freely between the slips as the sucker rod is being pulled, and to make provision whereby the slips readily and conveniently catch the sucker rod when it is lowered for that purpose.

An object of this invention is to provide a i support that can be, with perfect safety, applied to the pump tubing while the sucker rod is suspended therein and that will perfectly serve to uphold the sucker rod at each standing periodthat arises from time to time during the withdrawing operation until the last j'oint is removed; and which will be lifted by the valve-cage when the cage is brought against it by the hoisting machinery at the close of the withdrawing operation, and can then be safely withdrawn while the rod is suspended from the-derrick.

'rod is suspended in the tubing.,

The invention includes the parts, the assembly of parts and the combination of parts by which this advantage is secured and includes more particularly a supporting head having a side gap, a spider having a side gap, and adapted to be seated in the supporting head with the aps disalined or staggered relative to each ot er, and it also includes slips and a mounting therefor, said mounting and slips being constructed to provide a side gap adapted to receive the sucker rod and to so wedge thereupon as to spread the aws and the slips apart when the jaws are forced onto the suck'- er rod with therod in the gap between said l jaws. The sucker rod seats of the slips flare upwardly so that when the slips are out of the spider and tilted and moved laterally for Other objects, advantages and features of invention may appear from the .accompanying drawings, the subjoined detailed descr1ption and the appended claims. c

The accompanying drawings lllustrate the vl0 invention.

Fi re 1 is an axial section on plane indi-- cate by line :v1-m8, Figs. 2, 4 and 5, showing the device and pump tubing supported by a well casin and looking in the direction of the arrows; t e lower section of the sucker rQd to be drawn up to jar the s ider from its seat with valve cage attached is shown in the upper joint of the pump tubing, having been drawn up out of the workin barrel, not shown, and supported by the slips and ready preparatory to removal o 'the support and valve.

Fig. 2 is aK-fragmental side elevation of the.'

installation -shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the slips and the slip holder detached; the latter being partly in section.

Fig. 4 is a plan of the spider in the supportin head.

i 5 is a plan of the slips and slip holder detac ed and fully closed; the 'top of the housing for the shanks of the slip holder being cut away on the horizontal plane indicated by line :v5-m5, Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one member of the slip holder detached.

Fig. 7 1s a viewof one' of the slips in place` `on one member of the slip holder which is shown detached-from its mate and housing.

Fig. 8 is a fragmental view of the device shown in Fig. 1 with the valve cage support- !ing the slips and the spider, which latter is almost withdrawn from the casing head that is shown in vertical mid-section, on the plane indicated at line `:v1-m8, Figs. 2, 4 and 5.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged fragmental sectional 4detail of the joint between the supporting head and the spider in the position indicated in Fig. 1.

Fig. 10 is tached. l

` Fig. 11 is a view of the slip supporting spider detached.

Fig. 12 is an elevation of the. outer side of one of the slips.

The sucker rod 1 and the tubing 2 are of any approved form, and a tubing supported head 3 provided with an externally threaded neck 3 and an internal spider supporting shoulder 3'is connected to the tubing by suitable means as the internally threaded collar 4, screwed onto the tubing 2, and resting on the casing head 4a carried by the casing 4b, andinto which collar the neck is screwed.

Said head 3 has horizontal inwardly da plan view of the spider deminishing open s ring and ball ways 5 provided with yielding spider holders in the lform of balls'6 that are of larger diameter than the inner ends of the ways 5 and thatl are inwardly pressed by s rings 7 held in place by Cotter-pins 8, andp that roject inwardly from the walls of the head) to engage the spider 9 which has seats 10 into which the balls are yieldingly forced by the springs 7 so that the spider is held seated in the head under normal workin but may be jarred up by the valve-cage at t e final removal of the sucker rod.

The spider 9 isseated on the annular shoulder 3 of the head and has a downwardly diminishing bore 11 to receive downwardly tapered slips 12, 12 which are provided with longitudinally channelled wickers 13, adapted to iit around and engage the sucker rod 1 and hold it from downward movement when the slips are-in place.

The slips are connected to handling means comprising jaws, and Shanks, a housin in which the Shanks are positioned, and a a `dle fixed to the housing. With this in view each slip is provided in a plane normal to its axis with an external 'arcuate dove-tail groove 14 to fit on arcuate dove-tail slip carrying runners 14 of the jaws 15, 15 carried by shanks- -16 and 16', that` are pivoted on a pivot pin 17 and end in socketed terminals 18, 18 which are yieldingly held apart by a spring 19 to yieldingly hold the slips toward each other so that the wickers will engage the rod 1.

The spider bore 11 at its most contracted cross-section is of greater diameter than the boxes of the sucker rod joints so that said joints may pass freely down and up through the spider as the sucker rod is being lowered or pulled. The sucker-rod joints are of less diameter than the lower end of the assembled slips and the sucker rod boxes are of greater diameter than the combined rod gripping channels of the wickers so that when the sucker rod is being pulled, the boxes will engage the slips to force them up out of said housing and beyond the end thereof for convenience in handling the slips and especially .in withdrawing the wickers from the sucker rod by an upward pull on the handle that will yank the slips oi the rod with a wedging motion, provision for which is made by shaping the slips` above and below the wickers with inwardly sloping topand bottom recesses 22 and 23.

The supporting head 3 is provided in one side with a vap 24 wide enough to acconmiodate the suc er rod so that said head may be placed onto and taken from the tubing 2 and collar 4 thereon,'without interference with the sucker rod.

The spider 9 is provided with a vertlcal radial cleft or sucker rod side gap 25 for a like purpose so thatthe parts may be assembled and disassembled, by lsidewise movement while the sucker rod is in the .tubin' for pump operation or suspended by the elevator 26. 1

The slips are provided at their upper ends with screw head receiving recesses 29, and the jaws 15, 15 are provided with threaded seats 30, into which are screwed the screws 31 having heads .32, so that when said screwsl are tightened, the slips are secured against turning in the jaws l5, l5.

The outer ends of the jaws terminate in sucker rod `side gap faces 33 'that are outwardly divergent and that are tangent to the path through which such faces move when the jaws are swung upon the pivot 17. The faces 34 of the sucker rod gap of the slips 12, l2 extend in planes alined with the faces 33 and likewise tangent to the path of such faces when the jaws are swung apart by their movement on the pivot 17. By this arrangement the slips are adapted to be snapped onto the sucker rod by adjusting the device' shown in Fig. 5, with 1ts gap between the faces 33 and 34 presented toward the sucker rod, and such device is then shoved forward so that the faces 33 and 34 will impinge upon the sucker rod, and therefore the momentum of the device will cause the jaws to be forced open by the impingement of said faces with the sucker rod; the wedging action serving to compress the spring 19 rod comes into place inside the wickers.

The rear jaw faces 35 between the wickers and the pivot 17, preferably ft together when the jaws are closed by the pressure of said spring 19. Y

The divergent faces 34 of the slips form inward extensions of the divergent faces 33 of the jaws and the meeting faces 35 of the jaws between the slips and the jaw pivot 17 do not have`\s`uiiicient spread to pass the sucker rod, so that when the gap 36 has passed the sucker rod, the sucker rod slips come to a stop with the sucker rod in the wicker bore 32.

To apply the invention to a pump while the sucker roo is in the tubing, the supporting head having the gap 24 therein will be brought into position with the gap in position to receive the sucker rod, and will then be brought into alinement with the tubing and screwed into the collar 4. Then the spider 9 is in like manner brought into posilwill be opened by g of the jaws 15;-15, and then the elevator will until the suckerv h site the gap 24 in the-.supporting head and then the gravity. positionas the work of lowering the sucker rod joint by joint is proceeded with in an obvious manner the slips servingv to support the sucker rod when such support is needed.

To lower the sucker rod, the lsame will be suspended from the elevator and the slips spreading apart the ends spider is allowed toA seatitself by hen the slips are biought into be dlowered in the' usual manner to lower the ro To remove the sucker rod, the same is withdrawnjoint by joint until the cage c strikes the spider, thus forcing it up from the supporting head. The spider mayvthen b e removed sidewise the vertical sucker rod gap 25 allowing it to be drawn ofof the sucker rod and when desired the supporting head may be unscrewed and taken off sidewise in like manner.

In this way the necessity of pulling the rod to install the head and the spider is obviated, and the spider and the spider supporting tub ing head may be shifted from well to well as sucker rod pulling operations are required, and perfect safety against dropping the rod is secured.

l claim 1.` An assembly of the character set forth comprising a head adapted to'be-secured to pump tubing and provided with a seat having an internal horizontal shoulder and also provided in one side with a gap adapted to admit a sucker rod; a spider seated in said seat and provided with a downwardly reduced slip seat and having in one side a vertical slot to pass a sucker rod to the slip seat;slips adapted to seat in the -slip seat of the spider and aving wickers .adapted to fit upon a sucker rod; said slips also being provided at one side of the wickers with meeting faces and with divergent faces at the other side of the wickers; and jaws in which such slips are mounted; said jaws being adapted to be closedand having divergent extensions of the divergent faces of the slips, and forming guides to receive between them a sucker rod for the purpose of spreading the jaws apart by contact with the sucker rod when the closed jaws are moved horizontally to position above the spider to enclose the sucker rod in the slips.

2. In a well pump assembly, a head adapted to be connected to the'top of pump tubing and provided in one side with a vertical cleft adapted to pass a sucker rod, said head being provided with a seat for a spider; a spider having a downwardly reduced seat to receive sucker rod slips and provided in one side with a vertical slot adapted to pass a sucker rod when the same is suspended in the pump tubing so that the top of such tubing may be indicated in Figs. 1, 2 and 8 and 4 igs'rasva equipped with a seat to seat slips for supporting such sucker rod.

3. In a well pump assembly, shps havm wickers to engage a sucker r jaws pivote 5 together and connected to said slips res tively; said jawsV and slips being provlded with vertical guiding faces open to ass a sucker rod when the closed jaws wit slips p therein are moved to cause such guide faces if@ to impinge upon the sucker rod between them.

4. n a well pump assembly, slips havin wickers to engage a sucker r jaws pivote together and connected to said slips respectively; said jaws and slips being provlded n! with vertical guiding faces o en to assa sucker rod when the jaws wit slips t erein are moved to cause such 'de faces to iminge upon the sucker rod etween them; and andling means to which the jawsare piv- 'fo oted.

5. In a well pump assembl slips havin wickers to engage a sucker ro j awspivo together and connected to said slips respectively; said jaws and slips being provided with vertical guiding faces open to ass a sucker rod .when the jaws with slips t erein are moved to cause such ide' faces to imginge upon the sucker ro' between them; a

ousing partly enclosing said jaws; and a '530. handle extending downwardly aslant away from said housin j In testimony w ereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 9th 'day of October, 1928. u JOHN V. BOX. 

